pinnace Virginia. Like so many other projects and events, the organization, and specifically its shipbuilders and volunteers, experienced a very large, very heavy wrench tossed in the plans thanks to COVID-19. Despite that, the group out of Bath, Maine, has been able to continue work on building a reconstruction of the Virginia, which was built on the coast of Maine in 1607, the first European vessel built in the state. The ship had been slated for launch in 2020 during the state’s bicentennial, but a monthlong shutdown in construction put those
plans on hold. Now the shipwrights and riggers are back at it, working on staggered days to avoid a close-packed workspace. The “whiskey plank” was recently installed, decks are down and chalked, and the engine will soon be in place. The new launch date is tentatively slated for June 2022. For more information visit www.mfship.org. (Submitted by James Nelson) ... The National Museum of the Royal Navy re-opened on 17 May, offering visitors a new vantage point from which to view HMS Victory: looking up from below the ship.
victory images courtesy national museum of the royal navy
HMS Victory Dock Walkway
Maine’s First Ship volunteer Jim Amundsen bolts the lead to the keel.
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EXPERIENCE HISTORY ABOARD OUR NATIONAL LANDMARK SCHOONERS
courtesy james nelson
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SEA HISTORY 175, SUMMER 2021 53